Many razors for wet shaving on the market today have one or more razor blades (with many having three to six razor blades) within a razor cartridge which is operatively coupled to a handle, some razors being disposable and some razors having a reusable handle. Razor cartridges having multiple blades are described, for instance, in US Patent Publication No. 2005/0039337A1 published on Feb. 24, 2005, and one such razor cartridge has been commercialized as the five bladed Fusion™ Razor by The Gillette Company.
While multiple blades provide an improved close shave, generally some performance issues may still arise. Firstly, some discomfort may be realized by users during shaving. Secondly, shaving is still a relatively slow and inefficient process due to missed hairs and the difficulty in shaving problem areas such as the neck. Many shavers discern a substantial amount of missed hairs (e.g., hairs which are not cut at all or hairs that are not cut close to the skin or at the skin line) despite the bulk of hairs being cut.
In addition, it has been shown that some areas (e.g., neck, chin, and/or face) are particularly hard to shave. These areas generally have low-lying hairs that are often oriented in different directions. These low-lying hairs may be close, flat, or flush against the skin. In many instances, the user has to shave the same area repeatedly in attempting to cut hair that was either uncut or not cut close enough to the skin, resulting in increased skin irritation.
The discomfort aspect may be due to the increased number and sharpness of the blades and the cumulative force or loading on the skin, particularly in cartridges with three or more sharp blade edges.
Some prior art solutions which attempt to lessen the discomfort while maintaining safety and closeness provide, among other attributes, a reduced span of the blades from tip to tip, often referred to as the blade tip span. While such a reduction is generally known to provide better skin management by reducing the skin bulge between blades, it is also known to reduce the rinse-ability of hair clippings, skin particles, shaving cream, and/or other debris between the blades as the narrower spans decrease the size of the rinse-through gaps between the blades.
An alternative prior art solution to reducing discomfort by reducing blade load has been to increase the number of blades. Prior art applications introduce additional blades or elements attached to the blades. However, these interact with hair such that hair is displaced from an optimal cutting position when the blades engage with hair. No consideration is given as to how to reduce blade load and manage skin bulge whilst minimising any interaction with hair. Solid inter-blade elements or inter-blade elements which comprise a large skin contact area, such as those disclosed in the art, can lead to hair becoming trapped and consequently to less efficient cutting and greater irritation. Thus, there is still a need to improve skin management without hair interaction.